Realme C2 Review: A Good Looking Entry-Grade Phone

In a short span of time, the Realme has garnered a reputation of being a worthy budget bet. The brand recently unveiled Realme C2, an entry-level phone alongside Realme 3 Pro, a lower mid-ranger aimed against the Redmi Note 7 Pro in India. Predictably, it had a subdued launch as the bigger phone seized the better of the limelight. (Realme C2 review हिंदी में पढ़िए)

The budget phone runs on a 12nm Helio P22 SoC accompanied by an equally expected set of specs and features to meet the budget bar. However, is it a decent affordable phone that covers most basics?

Henceforth, we are sharing our experience with the device and by the time we are done, you’d hopefully be able to judge whether the Realme C2 is worth your money. Let’s get straight into our Realme C2 review.

Realme C2 Box Contents

Realme doesn’t bundle a protective case or headphones with C2. Inside the box, you will find:

Handset

10W charger

Charging cable

Screen protect film

SIM ejector tool and documentation

Realme C2 Review: Design and Display

Realme C2 brings a modish look to the entry-level segment. Upfront, we have a 6.1-inch HD+ Dewdrop display with 19:5:9 aspect ratio. The phone’s decent display with fair color accuracy leaves us wishing it were a bit brighter too. The tiny notch cutout leaves most space for status bar icons and aids in an immersive display consumption.

The slim side bezels and negligible chin further make it appealing. The rear polycarbonate panel continues the distinctive diamond cut pattern. It has a matte finish that is grippy. You would also find the realme branding on the rear and a horizontally placed camera band atop.

Realme cuts corners by ditching the capacitive fingerprint scanner. So, you’re left with face unlock and other traditional unlock options. Credit where credit is due, the face unlock works fine. Weirdly enough, the display turns on and the face unlock activates accidentally often, even within the pant pockets. The resultant vibration left us annoying.

Rest, the phone has a 3.5mm headphone jack and a lone speaker grill at the bottom, power button to the right and volume rockers to the left alongside the SIM tray. The buttons are tactile, the headphone and speaker output are more than okay at this budget.

Realme C2 Review: Camera

In its price tag, the dual cameras at the back including a 13MP+ 2MP setup is a sweet deal. The dewdrop notch in the facade houses a 5MP front snapper that combines the prowess of AI to enhance your selfies.

The edge detection in portrait snaps is finicky. But, when it works it bokehs the background adequately. The colors seem muted due to poor dynamic range and contrast. Realme’s image processing algorithms tend to compensate this by sharpening the output. Night-time shots were expectedly poor.

Overall, the photos are respectable for a budget phone camera but don’t expect much.

Realme C2 Camera Samples

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Realme C2 Review: Performance

Beginning with the internal hardware specs, Realme C2 is powered by a 12nm based 2.0GHz octa-core MediaTek Helio P22 chipset. This is accompanied by a max of 3GB RAM and 32GB onboard storage. It has a hybrid SIM slot which means you could sacrifice the second SIM for storage expansion up to 256GB.

This is understandably a bottom-rung internal spec list. In our real-life usage, we found the performance to be better than what we had expected. Even PUBG was playable at low graphics settings. If you are greedy for better visual gameplay, then get ready for framerate drops and drags.

It carries ColorOS 6.0 based on Android 9.0 Pie on the surface. This software experience could be a hit or miss for you. If you’re a clean and minimal stock android lover, then the plenty of features and apps might overwhelm you.

However, if that’s not the case, then you could uninstall some of the arguably junk apps and still use a comprehensive feature-packed OS. Realme has baked in a lot of nice haves such as navigation gestures, display tuner, app drawer, etc, but these extras do weigh down the minimal resources at disposal here. Call quality on the phone is again decent but not impressive.

Realme C2 Review: Battery

Realme C2 endures on a huge 4,000mAh battery, which could be one of its unique value proposition. As expected it keeps the device alive for long hours. The device’s HD+ display also drains less juice contributing to the battery life. For what it’s worth, you get a 10W charger with the box.

Realme C2 Review with Pros and Cons: Should you buy it?

First and foremost, we tested and reviewed the Realme C2 keeping its price in mind. The phone looks and feels in vogue and it does a fine job when it comes to display, battery and the overall performance.

We could go nitpicking about issues such as brightness, software, missing fast charging and fingerprint scanner, but considering other options available at this price point, that would be unfair and stupid, to be honest. If you are looking for an extremely affordable Android phone, the Realme C2 is decent enough.

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